Horrified…and A Rant

August 31, 2009

We take a break from our regularly scheduled recipe (because presently I am facing a fridge full of leftovers and not a lot of inspiration) to bring you news of the Quadruple Down. This is the big brother of KFC’s new Double Down “sandwich” that is currently being pilot tested.

The description from the horse’s mouth:

2 Original Recipe Filets

Bacon

Pepper Jack Cheese

Swiss Cheese

Colonel’s Sauce

That’s it. They’re using the chicken as the “bread” for this “sandwich”, which is more properly called a Heart Attack In A Wrapper. When I first saw this being tweeted last week, I thought it was a joke. But no, it’s the real deal. KFC, who earned back an iota of respect from me for finally offering grilled chicken that does not, in fact, suck, has trotted out this cholesterol breaking bad boy. That’s bad enough. But the fact that they also brought out the Quadruple Down (same horror, just 4 patties’ worth) just takes the cake. Check out this image from insanewiches.com:

Is it any wonder that America is obese? Because I guarantee people will eat this thing. All 8 million calories of it. There is not, big surprise, any nutritional information available on this sandwich at the KFC website. No question it weighs in at well over 100 grams of fat.

People will go and order this thing, eat all that drippy grease and disgusting sauce and call it good. These are the same people who eat Hamburger Helper or frozen dinners and believe it is a homemade meal. These are the people who are often overweight and wonder why.

GET A CLUE!

Foods with barcodes are bad for you. Don’t let a factory process all your food for you! That’s a job for your digestive system. If you shop predominantly in the aisles of your grocery store, buying pre-packaged, pre-this or pre-that foods that are supposed to make your life easier, you’ve got a problem.

I was talking to a friend earlier this morning about an article that pointed that out, and she seemed surprised by the news. It definitely isn’t news to me. When I told her that I usually only foray onto the aisles for things like bread, canned tomatoes, frozen veggies, rice, and dried beans, she said “Man, you eat healthy!”

No, I don’t always. But the difference is that I cook.

I cook for a lot of reasons. For one, I love it. I take a great deal of joy in preparing food and having people (myself included) eat and enjoy it. All my favorite social occasions surround food, and usually home-prepared food. Every weekend we have a cookout with 2 sets of our couple friends and everyone cooks. It’s fantastic food, great company, and doesn’t break the bank.

I cook because I like knowing exactly what’s in what I am eating. I read recently somewhere that it takes 40 chemicals to make up the artificial flavor of strawberry. The fact that companies have figured out some chemical combination for this freaks me out on some level to begin with, but why would I want to ingest 40 different chemicals that are no doubt not good for me when I could have an actual fresh, ripe, fabulous strawberry? One that actually has, gasp, nutritional value?

I tend toward healthier stuff because that’s a lifestyle choice. My family is trying to be fit and healthy longterm and that doesn’t include lots of high fat, high cal foods. That doesn’t mean we never order out pizza or hit up the Wendy’s drive thru. But it’s a rare thing. Once in a while. And frankly, I usually regret it because that overprocessed crap is not appropriate fuel for my body and my body lets me know it. I feel ill after eating all that stuff. Instead, I usually prefer to make my own version at home, which is healthier, tastier, and exactly how I like it.

I call myself a foodie and a food snob. I’m not one of those people who goes off and makes those nano portions all artfully plated up like those fancy New York restaurants. I don’t tend toward exotic or bizarre foods. But I believe in real, home-cooked, from scratch food. I firmly believe that America has absolutely traded health and flavor for convenience. And it’s gone on long enough that there is this entire generation of people who don’t seem to know any better. Who hear Banquet’s slogan of “Today’s Homemade” and nod and think “yeah!” NO! NO NO NO! That is not homemade! Non-cooking friends eat at my house and rave for weeks about whatever I cook. While that’s flattering to my ego, it’s not that I’m such a fabulous cook, it’s that I really do COOK.

I hear so many people who don’t like to cook. They find it a chore or too much trouble or…well they’ve given me all kinds of reasons. And sure there are days that I don’t feel like cooking (hello, pizza from the Tavern). But it’s just NOT that hard if you take a little time to prepare, have ingredients on hand, and follow a recipe. I promise you the results will be so much better than any of that convenience food you buy.